Improvement in escritoires



A. BATCHELDER.

Escritoires.

N0. I62,60I. v Paiented April 27, 1875.

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THE GRAPHIC C0.PHDTO -LITH.39 8:4! PARK PLACE NY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALDEN BATOHELDER, OF READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN ESCRITOIRE S.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 162,60 l, dated April27, 1875; application filed April 2, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALDEN BATOHELDER, of Reading, of the county ofMiddlesex and v State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Escritoires; and do hereby declare the same to be fullydescribed in the following specification, and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 denotes a perspective elevationof an escritoire with my invention, and having its lid in its lowerposition, or turned down. Fig. 2 is a vertical and transverse section;and Fig. 3, a vertical and longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale,of the lid and adjacent parts with my improvement. I would remark thatit is my intention to obtain a patent on the design of the escritoire,as shown in Fig. 1, independently of the addition constituting mypresent improvement or cylindrical segment applied to the lid, ashereinafter explained.

The invention relates to writing-desks, secretaries, or escritoires,having what are termed turn-down lids, pivoted or hinged to the sides oftheir chambers so as to be capable of being turned up to cover or closesuch chambers, and of being turned down to a level or slightlyinclinedposition in order to answer the purposes of a desk, or as a support fora sheet of paper while being written upon.

As heretofore constructed, the lid has been flat on its inner or topsurface, in consequence of which, while it was in the act of beingturned up, the lowerportion of it would be moved away from the shelfnext adjacent to it, so as to leave an opening between the two, throughwhich pieces of paper or articles, or dust on the lid, would generallybe discharged into the drawer or space beneath the shelf, or they wouldbe caught in the opening and be injured or broken, or do injury to thelid or shelf. To prevent the formation of any such opening, and the evilresults of it, as stated, is the object of my improvement, whichconsists in the combination of a cylindrical segment,

with the lid and the shelf or chamber bottom, such segment being fixedto the upper surface of the lid, and with its periphery against theshelf, and with its axis coincident or in line with a line extendingfrom the axis of one of the lid-pivots to that of the other.

In the drawings, A denotes the escritoire, of which a represents thelid, b its chamber, 0 the shelf or bottom, and d d the sides of suchchamber. The lid when down rests upon another shelf, 6, below which andthe bottom 0 is a drawer, f, and a space, g, to receive it. The lid to,when down on the shelf 0, extends a short distance underneath andusually abuts against the shelf or bottom 0. In Figs. 2 and 3, h is theaxial line of the two pivots i i of the lid, such pivots being projectedfrom the opposite ends of the lid into bearings in the sides d d of thechamber b. On the top of the lid a, and abutting against the shelf orbottom 0, is the cylindrical segment 70, which is fixed to the lid, andwith its radial axis between and in a straight line with the axes of thetwo pivots. This segment extends entirely across the lid from end to endof it.

From the above it will be seen that while the lid is in the act of beingturned either up or down, the outer curved surface of the segment willalways remain in contact or nearly so, with the shelf or bottom 0, andprojecting as the segment does, above the shelf, it will operate as aledge or guard to intercept any article and prevent it from sliding fromthe shelf into thejoint.

As my improvement in the escritoire, the cylindrical segment 70 combinedwith the lid a, and arranged with its pivots i t, and the chamber bottomor shelf 0, all substantially as specified.

ALDEN BATOHELDER.

lVitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, J. R. SNow.

